Highlighting Female Tattoo Artists - Women’s History Month
To celebrate Women’s History Month I decided to dedicate a post highlighting just some of my favorite female tattoo artists here in Ohio! There are so many women killing it in the industry right now, I might have to make a part two to this post in the future.
Jennifer Mansell - Mentor, OH
Jennifer is a Neo Traditional artist tattooing out of 7 Inks Tattoo Collective in Mentor, Ohio. With only a few years of tattooing under her belt, Jennifer is simply natural at the medium, showcasing immense talent and potential in her apprentice days. She has won many awards during her time at the Cleveland Tattoo Convention taking “Best Female Medium Black and Gray” and many more just this past month. Jenn specializes in Neo-traditional/Traditional pieces but can be incredibly versatile, dominating any challenge you give her. She happens to be responsible for the best tattoos I have on my body and I plan on continuing to go to her. She just opened her books for 2023 and they fill very quickly so strike while the iron is hot everyone!
Ilena Gonzalez - Lakewood, OH
Ilena Gonzalez is one of the artists working out of the brand new Lakewood Tattoo Studio Beartooth Tattoo Co. Ilena, who I had the pleasure of meeting at this year's Cleveland Tattoo Convention, is one of the coolest Blackwork/Black and Gray artists out of the state. In her interview with Voyage Ohio Ilena shares that she’s “mostly known for my lady heads and stipple shading.” Her dotwork makes her dark aesthetic stand out and shows really unique shading and gradients in her work. Support this amazing artist!
Brooke Eveland - Willoughby, OH
Brooke Eveland, AKA @danklilnuggie on Instagram, is the Trad Queen in my book. Based out of Black Dahlia Tattoo Gallery in Willoughby. I recently found a new love and appreciation for Traditional tattoo style and I think Brooke does it best! Her bold colors, thick lines, solid designs, and placement brings back that old-school feel we tattoo lovers know like the back of our hands. Her flash features classic Mom Heart designs, pin-up girls, bloody daggers, and of course some cool-looking roses. As said in her bio, her books are never closed so take advantage!
Victoria Holmes - Mentor, OH
If you need proof that fine line tattoos heal like fine wine take a look at Victoria Holmes based out of Everlast Tattoo Co. This awesome artist has been perfecting her craft since 2015 and has decided to specialize in Blackwork and Fine line tattoos. Victoria has some of the cleanest work I’ve ever seen from flowers to dragons and portraits to ornamental. She even dapples in creating anime pieces, which brings this creative and unique layer to the 2D characters she brings to life. Since she works primarily in black and gray, whenever Victoria takes the opportunity to include color it makes the tattoo stand out that much more-carefully adding red or blue to an all-black piece gives it meaning which I admire. With this amount of talent Victoria’s books stay full, so next time she’s available I would definitely set an alarm to try to get in as quickly as possible.
Erin Haines - Kent, OH
During my college days at Kent State University there was so much buzz surrounding this one tattoo shop everyone was going to-War Horse Ink. Erin Haines is one of the many talented artists at the iconic shop; she specializes in Linework, Black and Gray, and Color tattoos. I found her through another artist at the shop, Allyson Blessing who gave me my beautiful hand tattoo! Erin’s work really caught my eye due to its incredible attention to detail and gorgeous lines. If I were still at Kent today I would definitely be down at the shop getting some work done by the lovely lady. Her books reopen this upcoming March 20th, so do as I would and book book book!